Oh God, the Ruspanti. Well, it all starts with hot lackey Giuliano Dami, who is exceptionally beautiful, and whom Gian Gastone falls for and takes with him to Germany when he sets off to marry as ordered by Dad. As the marriage is a catastrophe from the start, Dami becomes more than Gian Gastone's boyfriend and consolation, he becomes his pimp. Quoth Acton:
Before he had left Florence, and even in Paris, he had been voted well favoured as to physique, with his sad eyes and sensual lips, his slender shape and delicate complexion. After his sojourn in Prague he became bloated and unrecognizable. For in the capital of Bohemia Giuliano Dami found it more easy to seduce his master into those profligate courses which were afterwards to set their stamp on him. We will quote from a memoir of Gian Gastone in the Biblioteca Moreniana at Florence : ‘There were scores of fresh young students in Prague, smooth chinned Bohemians and Germans, who were so impecunious that on certain days they wandered begging from door to door. In this wide preserve Giuliano could always hunt for amorous game and introduce some new and comely morsel to the Prince. There was also no small number of palaces at Prague belonging to great and opulent nobles. These had regiments of retainers about them in their households, foot men and lackeys of low birth and humble station. Giuliano induced His Highness to seek his diversions with these, and to mingle freely in their midst, so as to choose any specimen that appealed to his singular sense. He encouraged the Prince, moreover, to eat and drink and make free with this beau monde, and intoxicate himself in their company. ...
Once Gian Gastone and Giuliano Dami were back in Florence, where Dad Cosimo the ultra pious was still ruling, there was some restraint (so more alcohol, less boytoys), but once Cosimo was dead, Giuliano Dami went recruiting again, and these beautiful young men, mostly of low life origin, were referred to as the Ruspanti. Only now because Gian Gastone was the Duke, Giuliano Dami could reek in the money from anyone who wanted access to him, especially since Gian Gastone for the last few years did not get out of his bed anymore. Literally. After the famous occasion when he threw up in public out of his chaise when transported through the streets, he remained in bed and if he had to hold court, held court there. The Ruspanti performed sexual acts both with each other and for him, though that's not all they did, and their number grew up to 300. Or, to quote Acton again: Giuliano Dami, who had every reason to foster this passion, collected a regiment of males and whose entire business was to pander, however grossly, to the Grand Duke's caprices , and mitigate the asperities of the political situation and the monotony of his daily life. Their salaries varied with the antics they performed ; often he required them to insult him and knock him about like a clown ; from the fact that they were paid on Tuesdays and Saturdays in ruspi ( a ruspo being a Florentine sequin formerly worth ten francs) they became notorious as Ruspanti. They were generally recruited from the lowest classes ( ‘ it mattered not from what gang of vagrant knaves and mongrels, unruly and unclean, provided they were graced with an alluring eye and the countenance of an Adonis” ) , though knights and citizens, and many foreigners figured among them. Soon they usurped the Grand Duke's time almost to the exclusion of everyone else : their prominence embarrasses the polite historian, though he may not cancel the rôles they played in Gian Gastone's latter years. Necessarily their presence must cloud the perspective, while investing it with a deeper pathos. (...)
Giuliano and the Ruspanti knew more about him than his ministers ; but his jokes were widely reported , and he joked on every subject. 'He would entertain a dozen dissolute boys to sumptuous dinners, and one by one he would call them by the names of his most prominent men of state. With these he would hold his nightly conference .'(...)
When Gian Gastone tries to make a deal with the Spaniards, accepting Don Carlos as his heir and Spanish troops to fortify that claim, in 1731: The Spanish troops did not arrive until October, 1731. Meanwhile the Ruspanti, some 370 strong, were becoming a public menace : even Spanish soldiers were less feared than this rowdy gang of bullies. Every time they came for their wages beneath the colonnade in thecourtyard of the Pitti, there was an uproar. On the evening of August 25th, 1731 , writes Settimanni, the Grand Duke’s Ruspanti, who since a fortnight had not been paid for their good services to H.R.H. , betook themselves in great number to the old market and tried to obtain food from the cook-shops without money to pay for it ; but the shopkeepers resisted them, and a scuffle ensued with knives and stonesa - flying. Nothing of the matter came before the courts of justice, however, from due regard to the favour this rabble enjoyed with H.R.H. Such scenes were of daily occurrence. And in September, the Ruspanti shouted insults outside the windows of the chamber where H.R.H. slept, and even tried to enter it and see whether His Highness were alive or dead, having forced their way through the gate of the Boboli Gardens. After this a sentry-box was built to keep armed guards there during the night, who were ordered to tell anyone approaching the said windows to withdraw , and if they disobeyed, to fire immediately. The Serene Electress also, fearing similar insults from the Ruspanti, doubled the guards to her apartment. A more exact version is told in the reliable MS. memoir in the Biblioteca Moreniana: Giuliano Dami had ceased to encourage the Grand Duke’s disorderly routs from fear of the Electress, who regarded him as their instigator and pursued him with a deadly hatred .The Grand Duke abstained from them in consequence , for he adored and valued Giuliano more than his own eyes. After a time, however, he could forbear no longer, so great was the delight he took in these assemblies. Without informing Giuliano he arranged with ten or twelve of his Ruspanti that they were to enter the Boboli Gardens by a gate above the large piazza, which always remained half -open with a single sentry to guard it. A secret door from the garden would admit them to the palace, whence they could easily gain his apartments. They reached this gate at the appointed hour, wearing grotesque masks and dominoes, but as the sentry turned them back they set upon him and put him to flight with a volley of stones. This obstacle overcome, they entered the garden, but could not find the secret door, for darkness was gathering. In the meantime the sentry had warned the bodyguard. Torches were lit , and ten stout soldiers fully armed set after them . The Ruspanti were groping in the dark, unable to find the door. When they saw the torches of the bodyguard approaching, they moved some distance from the palace to avoid suspicion. But instead of escaping, as they could have done easily by one of the side-alleys or shrubberies, they came forth pluckily to meet their adversaries. The guards were ready to charge them, but as the Ruspanti appeared unexpectedly in a compact body with pistols and drawn swords, they had to let them pass. They were merely escorted , unrecognized, out of the royal gardens. Bettino Ricasoli suspected they were thieves, and gave orders that in future all members of the bodyguard were to use muskets with bayonets attached to them by night. ... Had any but the Ruspantibeen responsible, the whole city would have been overturned to discover the culprits . But the incident was hushed up, and no steps whatever were taken to investigate. When the Grand Duke was informed, his delight was unbounded . He summoned his hectic young heroes, and wished them to render him a full account of their adventure. He lauded their courage, and made them bountiful amends.
The Electress is Gian Gastone's sister, who had married the Prince Elector of the Palatinate, remember, but was widowed by then and returned to Florence. Anyway, those were the Ruspanti.
Re: Harold Acton: Last of the Medici I: How to make really bad marriages
Before he had left Florence, and even in Paris, he had been voted well favoured as to physique, with his sad eyes and sensual lips, his slender shape and delicate complexion. After his sojourn in Prague he became bloated and unrecognizable. For in the capital of Bohemia Giuliano Dami found it more easy to seduce his master into those profligate courses which were afterwards to set their stamp on him.
We will quote from a memoir of Gian Gastone in the Biblioteca Moreniana at Florence :
‘There were scores of fresh young students in Prague, smooth chinned Bohemians and Germans, who were so impecunious that on certain days they wandered begging from door to door. In this wide preserve Giuliano could always hunt for amorous game and introduce some new and comely morsel to the Prince. There was also no small number of palaces at Prague belonging to great and opulent nobles. These had regiments of retainers about them in their households, foot men and lackeys of low birth and humble station. Giuliano induced His Highness to seek his diversions with these, and to mingle freely in their midst, so as to choose any specimen that appealed to his singular sense. He encouraged the Prince, moreover, to eat and drink and make free with this beau monde, and intoxicate himself in their company. ...
Once Gian Gastone and Giuliano Dami were back in Florence, where Dad Cosimo the ultra pious was still ruling, there was some restraint (so more alcohol, less boytoys), but once Cosimo was dead, Giuliano Dami went recruiting again, and these beautiful young men, mostly of low life origin, were referred to as the Ruspanti. Only now because Gian Gastone was the Duke, Giuliano Dami could reek in the money from anyone who wanted access to him, especially since Gian Gastone for the last few years did not get out of his bed anymore. Literally. After the famous occasion when he threw up in public out of his chaise when transported through the streets, he remained in bed and if he had to hold court, held court there. The Ruspanti performed sexual acts both with each other and for him, though that's not all they did, and their number grew up to 300. Or, to quote Acton again:
Giuliano Dami, who had every reason to foster this passion, collected a regiment of males and whose entire business was to pander, however grossly, to the Grand Duke's caprices , and mitigate the asperities of the political situation and the monotony of his daily life. Their salaries varied with the antics they performed ; often he required them to insult him and knock him about like a clown ; from the fact that they were paid on Tuesdays and Saturdays in ruspi ( a ruspo being a Florentine sequin formerly worth ten francs) they became notorious as Ruspanti. They were generally recruited from the lowest classes ( ‘ it mattered not from what gang of vagrant knaves and mongrels, unruly and unclean, provided they were graced with an alluring eye and the countenance of an Adonis” ) , though knights and citizens, and many foreigners figured among them. Soon they usurped the Grand Duke's time almost to the
exclusion of everyone else : their prominence embarrasses the polite historian, though he may not cancel the rôles they played in Gian Gastone's latter years. Necessarily their presence must cloud the perspective, while investing it with a deeper pathos. (...)
Giuliano and the Ruspanti knew more about him than his ministers ; but his jokes were widely reported , and he joked on every subject. 'He would entertain a dozen dissolute boys to sumptuous dinners, and one by one he would call them by the names of his most prominent men of state. With these he would hold his nightly conference .'(...)
When Gian Gastone tries to make a deal with the Spaniards, accepting Don Carlos as his heir and Spanish troops to fortify that claim, in 1731:
The Spanish troops did not arrive until October, 1731. Meanwhile the Ruspanti, some 370 strong, were becoming a public menace : even Spanish soldiers were less feared than this rowdy gang of bullies. Every time they came for their wages beneath the colonnade in thecourtyard of the Pitti, there was an uproar. On the evening of August 25th, 1731 , writes Settimanni, the Grand Duke’s Ruspanti, who since a fortnight had not been paid for their good services to H.R.H. , betook themselves in great number to the old market and tried to obtain food from the cook-shops without money to pay for it ; but the shopkeepers resisted them, and a scuffle ensued with knives and stonesa - flying. Nothing of the matter came before the courts of justice, however, from due regard to the favour this rabble enjoyed with H.R.H. Such scenes were of daily occurrence. And in September, the Ruspanti shouted insults outside the windows of the chamber where H.R.H. slept, and even tried to enter it and see whether His Highness were alive or dead, having forced their way through the gate of the Boboli Gardens. After this a sentry-box was built to keep armed guards there during the night, who were ordered to tell anyone approaching the said windows to withdraw , and if they disobeyed, to fire immediately. The Serene Electress also, fearing similar insults from the Ruspanti, doubled the guards to her apartment.
A more exact version is told in the reliable MS. memoir in the Biblioteca Moreniana: Giuliano Dami had ceased to encourage the Grand Duke’s disorderly routs from fear of the Electress, who regarded him as their instigator and pursued him with a deadly hatred .The Grand Duke abstained from them in consequence , for he adored and valued Giuliano more than his own eyes. After a time, however, he could forbear no longer, so great was the delight he took in these assemblies. Without informing Giuliano he arranged with ten or twelve of his Ruspanti that they were to enter the Boboli Gardens by a gate above the large piazza, which always remained half -open with a single sentry to guard it. A secret door from the garden would admit them to the palace, whence they could easily gain his apartments. They reached this gate at the appointed hour, wearing grotesque masks and dominoes, but as the sentry turned them back they set upon him and put him to flight with a volley of stones. This obstacle overcome, they entered the garden, but could not find the secret door, for darkness was gathering. In the meantime the sentry had warned the bodyguard. Torches were lit , and ten stout soldiers fully armed set after them . The Ruspanti were groping in the dark, unable to find the door. When they saw the torches of the bodyguard approaching, they moved some distance from the palace to avoid suspicion. But instead of escaping, as they could have done easily by one of the side-alleys or shrubberies, they came forth pluckily to meet their adversaries. The guards were ready to charge them, but as the Ruspanti appeared unexpectedly in a compact body with pistols and drawn swords, they had to let them pass. They were merely escorted , unrecognized, out of the royal gardens. Bettino Ricasoli suspected they were thieves, and gave orders that in future all members of the bodyguard were to use muskets with bayonets attached to them by night. ... Had any but the Ruspantibeen responsible, the whole city would have been overturned to discover the culprits . But the incident was hushed up, and no steps whatever were taken to investigate. When the Grand Duke was informed, his delight was unbounded . He summoned his hectic young heroes, and wished them to render him a full account of their adventure. He lauded their courage, and made them bountiful amends.
The Electress is Gian Gastone's sister, who had married the Prince Elector of the Palatinate, remember, but was widowed by then and returned to Florence. Anyway, those were the Ruspanti.